Private-equity tycoons are now looking toward the Senate to keep their tax rates from rising — but those hopes soon may be dashed, a well-placed source said.

The House yesterday voted to raise the tax rate that partners at private-equity firms pay on the profits generated from buying and selling companies, known as carried interest, to 35 percent from the current 15 percent.

Now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to bring the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, which includes the tax-hike provision, to a vote quickly when the Senate returns June 7 from a holiday recess.

“No one [in the Senate] is changing their vote [on the bill] because of carried interest,” the source said, adding the jobs bill is likely to pass.

Private-equity players have been bracing themselves for the tax increase after a key ally in the Senate, Montana Democrat Max Baucus, was unable to keep the provision out of the jobs bill after three years of successfully keeping it at bay.

However, private-equity firms got a small reprieve when the House, in passing the measure, delayed its implementation to the start of the year. That gives the private-equity industry, along with venture-capital firms and others, more time to enjoy the lower tax.

Under the provision, by 2013, 75 percent of the profits a private-equity partner pockets from deals will be subject to the higher tax, while the remaining 25 percent will be subject to a 15 percent tax.

The provision is expected to generate nearly $18 billion over 11 years, and will help offset the price tag of the jobs bill, which includes extending dozens of temporary tax relief provisions for one year, including the extension of tax incentives for the New York Liberty Zone. The Act also extends until Nov. 30 unemployment benefits for hundreds of thousands of workers.